The idea of using quick huddles, as opposed to the standard one-hour meeting, arose from a need to speed up the work of improvement teams. Huddles enable teams to have frequent but short briefings so that they can stay informed, review work, make plans, and move ahead rapidly.

Huddles have a number of benefits:

• They allow fuller participation of front-line staff and bedside caregivers, who often find it impossible to get away for the conventional hour-long improvement team meetings.
• They keep momentum going, as teams are able to meet more frequently.
• They enable Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to proceed rapidly.

Used in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s "Methods and Tools for Breakthrough Improvement" course, the huddles tool has helped hundreds of health care organizations.

Download the tool for detailed instructions.